Vatican Priest Compares Uproar Over Priest Sex Abuse To Persecution Of The Jews

If there were any further evidence needed that the inner sanctums of the Roman Catholic Church are completely disconnected from reality in their handling of the priest sex abuse scandals, this is it:

ROME — A senior Vatican priest speaking at a Good Friday service compared the uproar over sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church — which have included reports about Pope Benedict XVI’s oversight role in two cases — to the persecution of the Jews, sharply raising the volume in the Vatican’s counterattack.

Benedict sat looking downward when the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, who holds the office of preacher of the papal household, delivered his remarks in the traditional prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica. Wearing the brown cassock of a Franciscan, Father Cantalamessa took note that Easter and Passover were falling during the same week this year, saying he was led to think of the Jews. “They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms,” he said.

Father Cantalamessa quoted from what he said was a letter from an unnamed Jewish friend. “I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole word,” he said the friend wrote. “The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.”

Yea, because there’s a massive resemblance between religious bigotry and covering up a horrible crime.

To be fair, Father Cantalamessa was not speaking for the Church when he said this, and a Vatican official did say that his views don’t represent the views of the Church, but it’s just another example that there remains a cadre inside the Vatican that still doesn’t get it.

Until that changes, the Church is going to continue suffering onslaughts that, quite honestly, it largely deserves.